Padding materials are currently utilised for the manufacture of many different articles of sports clothing such as windcheaters, anoraks, ski suits and the like. For such purposes the padding must have good characteristics of impermeability to water, whilst exhibiting a certain permeability to air so as to ensure a high degree of protection against the external environment whilst maintaining a high degree of comfort. In the production of such articles of clothing it is necessary to join a number of different pieces together and this is usually achieved by stitching, which inevitably constitutes a possible path for the infiltration of water, especially if the garment is used for a long time in adverse climatic conditions.
All attempts made until now to protect such stitch lines have been found to be entirely insufficient in that they do not completely prevent the infiltration of water through the stitch lines.